monger

noun

1. Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word.

   “[S]ometime one rich munger or other, buying up a commoditie, and bringing it vvholly into his ovvne hands for to have the monopolie of it, raiſeth the market, and enhaunceth the price: […]”

   “With Cracken the attorney, and Mundell the quack, / Send Willie the monger to hell with a smack.”

   “For the freshest wild catch, ask your monger when the fish are running.”

2. (figuratively)Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word.

   “There is a man haunts the Forreſt, that abuſes our yong plants vvith caruing Roſalinde on their barkes; hangs Oades vpon Hauthornes, and Elegies on brambles; all (forſooth) defying the name of Roſalinde. If I could meet that Fancie-monger, I vvould giue him ſome good counſel, for he ſeemes to have the Quotidian of Loue vpon him.”

   “Fvt[elli]. I am not foot-poaſt, / No pedlar of Aviſo's, no monopoliſt / Of forged Corantos, monger of Gazets. / Pie[ro]. Monger of courtezans, fine Futelli, / In certaine kinde a merchant of the ſtaple / For vvares of uſe and trade, a taker up.”

   “[T]he impatient Stateſ-Monger / Could novv contain himſelf no longer, / VVho had not ſpar'd to ſhevv his Piques, / Againſt th' Haranguers Politicks?”

   “The nice punctilio-mongers of this age, / The grand minute reformers of the ſtage, / Slaves to propriety of ev'ry kind, / Some ſtandard-meaſure for each part ſhould find; […]”

   “Yet I hold as little with the humanity-mongers, who deny the necessity and lawfulness of inflicting capital punishment in any case, as with the shallow moralists, who exclaim against vindictive justice, when punishment would cease to be just, if it were not vindictive.”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, obsolete)Clipping of whoremonger (“a frequent customer of whores”).

   “Here vvas no ſubtle device to get a VVench. / This Chanon [i.e., canon, member of the clergy] has a brave pate of his ovvn! / A ſhaven pate! and a right monger, y' vaith!”

4. (obsolete, transitive)A small seagoing vessel used for fishing.

   “[C]erteyne Fyſhermen that go a trawlyng for fyſhe in Catches or mongers, and dradgies for Oyſters about the ſandes, […]”

   “monger: a small sea-vessel used by fishermen.”

verb

1. (transitive)To deal in, peddle, or sell (something).

   “There were Mongols hawking sheepskins and Chinese vending calendars and pocket calculators, North Koreans flogging jewelry and Vietnamese mongering shirts and leather jackets.”

2. (figuratively, transitive)To promote (something, especially an undesirable thing); to peddle.

   “She [Grace Kelly] was beautiful and elegant but, above all, good. […] Not even Hedda Hopper could monger scandal in her regard.”

   “[T]he paper towel industry has funded or promoted a rash of studies claiming that hand dryers turn bathrooms into mosh pits of pathogens. […] Once these fears have been mongered, their spread is irresistible.”

name

1. A surname.